Minnesota

Minnesota covers 79,610 square miles, with a 2018
estimated population of 5,611,179 people - 1,243,335
living in rural Minnesota (USDA-ERS). Saint Paul, the
state capital, is located in the southern region of the
state. The largest cities are Minneapolis, Saint Paul,
Bloomington, Duluth, and Rochester. According to 2018
data from the U.S. Census Bureau, 84.4% of the state's
population is white, 6.8% is African-American, 5.1% is
Asian, 1.4% is American Indian or Alaska Native, 0.1% is
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and 5.5% is of
Hispanic or Latino origin.

Selected Social Determinants of Health for Rural
Minnesota

5% of Minnesota residents lack health insurance (Kaiser,
2017). According to the USDA Economic Research Service,
the average per capita income for Minnesotans in 2017 was
$54,359, although rural per capita income lagged at
$44,350. The ERS reports, based on 2017 ACS data, that
the poverty rate in rural Minnesota is 11.5%, compared
with 8.9% in urban areas of the state. 9.0% of the rural
population has not completed high school, while 6.7% of
the urban population lacks a high school diploma
according to 2013-2017 ACS data reported by ERS. The
unemployment rate in rural Minnesota is at 3.6% while in
urban Minnesota it is at 2.7% (USDA-ERS, 2018).

For a national comparison, please see an overview of the United States.

The Rural Health Information Hub is supported by the Health Resources
and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
under Grant Number U56RH05539 (Rural Assistance Center for Federal Office of Rural Health
Policy Cooperative Agreement). Any information, content, or conclusions on this website are
those of the authors and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor
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